Subjects

50 - Humans

Eva is not sure exactly when Ben left the room or when Emily got in. As she gets up from her bed and slips away quietly, she hopes to get some time alone before they have to go out. What she doesn't know is that Emily is already awake. Emily can hear Eva's bed creak, she keeps her eyes closed so she doesn't have to talk to her.

She is still so angry at Eva. Over time she felt that they can actually become friends, but no. Eva is still the same person that she was, thinking about herself first. How could she do it, risk everything just to make things easier for herself? And Ben, he was the one who said this was a bad idea in the first place! Emily thinks about getting up but there is no one she wants to see right now. She pulls the blanket over her head and lets out a whimper.

Eva is not doing any better. After less than a minute of walking she realizes she has nowhere to go and sits down on a random rock. Yes, there are rocks there just laying about, it should practically be called a desert. Her mouth is dry but she forgot to get water and now if she goes back she may run into someone.

No, sitting on a rock with a dry mouth is way better than talking to people. Who knew, right now the only person who gets her is Ben. Even with him, she can't speak after the embarrassment that was yesterday evening. Not only did she ruin any chance they had at going away without drawing attention, but she also lashed out at Emily. Who deserved it, but still. Eva hates it when people get to her like that. Why can't she keep her cool? Keep her temper in check and her feelings to herself? She wants to kick herself when she thinks back to everything she said.

"So what if we're stuck together? It doesn't make us friends!"

Why would she say that? Emily is, yes, annoying at times, but a friend. Not a person that just hangs around her, nodding at her every word. And she ruined it. Just like she ruins everything. Maybe she should live in the mountains somewhere and take a vow of silence. At least this way she won't hurt people.

Eva kicks a small rock by her feet. That small rock turns out to be not so small, but actually the tip of a much bigger rock buried in the sand. Eva's toe hurts from the kick and that upsets her even more. She couldn't even go through the morning without doing some damage. Typical!

On that cheerful note, let's all head to the single room where nobody somehow offended someone else. Angie and Alice's room. Alice wakes up early today after sleeping so much yesterday. Angie is up even earlier, having slept a lot lately in general. Alice finds her girl sitting by a small table in their room and writing.

"Who is Jeff?" Alice asks.

Angie turns back to her, "he is a friend, I want to send him a letter because he is feeling very bad and I couldn't say goodbye before we left the hospital."

Alice smiles sadly, "I'm sure he will love your letter."

Angie is the one to finally gather everybody in a single place so that they can start their journey to... Destination undecided. Ben picked up all the brochures he could find in the reception and so they are gone. Or at least they would be gone if they managed to make up their minds about who sits where.

"I can't sit in the back again," Eva says. "It makes me feel sick." More like if she has to be in the same car with the people she doesn't want to talk to right now (all the people, really), at least she won't have to sit next to them.

"I don't feel good sitting in the back either," Emily argues.

"Umm... Being the one with the map-" Ben stops when the two girls emphasize the saying if looks could kill. "Never mind."

"You know what," Alice intervenes (be glad I spared you the first ten minutes of the argument, Alice didn't have this luxury). "Angie will sit with me at the front. You can switch places the next time we make a stop."

Well, the next time they make a stop may not be the best time. But since Alice doesn't know that, and neither does anybody else who isn't me or you, they all agree. Especially Angie, she never got to ride in the front before.

The back seat of the car is definitely not meant for four teenagers. Especially when two of them are not speaking to one another. Taking all factors into account, there was only one way to sort them. Emily sits on one side, next to her is Roger, then Ben, and on the other side is Eva. Ben gets a little flustered and blushes when Eva goes into the car and scooches closer so she can close the door. She doesn't notice, of course, being embarrassed for completely different reasons.

At noon they make a quick stop to freshen up, or so they plan to. Alice pulls up in a gas station and all of them, except Eva, go to the convenience store. Eva will have to change her appearance if she wants to show her face in public anytime soon.

So they go into the store. While Roger is waiting for Ben to leave the men's room, he looks at the news on the small television behind the counter.

"New lead in the kidnapping of millionaire's daughter, Eva Marshall. In the security camera's of the building, she is seen with this guy. The police confirmed that he is indeed the YouTuber known as BackpackBen. His relation with Eva Marshall is still not clear."

The screen shows the video of Eva and Ben walking into the building over and over again. Then a man appears on the screen, a man that looks a lot like Ben.

"We are speaking to the police about the possibility that our son was taken by the same people who took the girl. Ben has been away for months on some program so we were not worried when we didn't hear from him."

"Shit," Ben apparently left the toilet already and was watching most of the report with Roger.

"Is this your dad?" Roger whispers and Ben nods.

Ben pulls up his hoodie in an attempt to hide his face. It is a good thing the store was pretty empty and the one person there was too occupied with the report to notice Ben. Ben sneaks out before any more breaking news or embarrassing photos of him will be broadcast.

"What's with the hoodie?" Eva asks when Ben slips in the car.

"You are not the only celerity anymore," Ben looks around to see if anyone was looking at him. "The police think I was kidnapped too, now."

"Technically we were," Eva points out. "But I don't think they will accept the alien kidnap explanation."

Then Ben sees something in the window behind Eva that makes his eyes widen. Eva turns around to see what it is. Leaning to look at them, right outside the car, is Roa. Roa, alien assassin, Leo's sister, ring any bells? Yup, that Roa.

If they could hear through the car's window, they would know that the word Roa huffed at them, rolling her eyes, is "humans".